As anticipated, we drove into Jakarta this morning for a day of shopping and fun. Luckily the traffic was in our favour and it only took about an hour and a half to reach the city.

We were headed to a mall where we would meet up with a group of friends at a kids’ play area, followed by lunch and shopping. As we drove up, it became obvious that we were in an expensive part of town at the expensive kind of mall – the 20-foot Gucci and Prada signs on the front were a bit of a give-away.

We arrived first of the group, so we window shopped a while before finding a Marks and Spencer. My new favourite store! I bought a few new shirts to complement the 5 I’ve been rotating through since we moved here. Plus they actually have sizes that fit me and B.

The cavernous mall – yes, it’s at least 6 stories. I’m not sure because I couldn’t even count them all.

After a quick stop for some chai, we brought the kids up to a play zone that was – as usual – mayhem. B drew the long straw and got to wander around the mall while I stayed with the kids in the play centre, circumnavigating playstructures and ball pits for the morning.

All the kids (and parents!) racing cars around an electric track.The kids wanted to paint some pictures – apparently this was not covered by the admission fee, so I had to pay extra. No worries, it can only be a few dollars, right?Nope, those masterpieces cost nearly Rp100,000.00 ($10) each. Glad J is so good at painting, because this sucker is going up on the wall for at least 15 years.B hamming it up in the ball pit, pretending to swim. We don’t seem to have picked up any ticks, so things are looking good.

After a few hours of play, we gathered for a lunch of sushi and gado-gado (that’s like make-your-own-soup at the table), followed by a little more shopping. Then home!

Doesn’t seem like much when I write it out, but it was a busy day, and the 2 hours’ drive home certainly was exhausting. Shopping is such a chore!